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Angela Merkel Wins the Her Fourth Term in Office in the Worst CDU-CSU Election

Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel has been re-elected to serve her fourth term. However, the results saw the worst results for the CDU/CSU bloc in 70 years since it was formed in 1949. After the election, the chancellor’s current coalition partner SPD says it will serve as the opposition after their loss. Despite the poor results, Angela Merkel’s side will remain with the majority in parliament.

Although Merkel may have won, this election would go down to history for two reasons. Firstly, it is the worst election ever. Secondly, the right-wing nationalists have now become part of German establishment. This is after Merkel opened the door to about one million refugees, something that was earlier thought as the unthinkable.

On their side, nationalist AFD won its first seats to become the third most popular party. This brought about protestors who gathered outside the right-wing anti-Islam party’s headquarters in Berlin. The protesters were carrying placards written, “Refugees are welcome.” Demonstrations were also held in Cologne and Frankfurt.

Meaning of the Results

Although Angela Merkel’s party has remained the largest party, these results were the worst for the alliance between Christian Social Union (CSU) and Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since 1949, when elections were first held in the country. In the results, CDU-CSU emerged victorious with 33 percent of the votes, followed by SPD with 20.5 percent. Other parties such as AFD, FDP, Left, and Greens obtained 12.6, 10.7, 9.2 and 8.9 percent respectively.

In a statement, while addressing supporters, Merkel said that she had hoped for better results. Angela, who has been the chancellor for the last 12 years, added that she would consider the concerns of AFD in order to win their trust again.

The New Government

Merkel stated that her new government would deal with security and economic issues. She also said that she would address the major causes of migration, which is one of the primary reasons behind AFD’s overwhelming results. Her government will talk with its partners in its pursuit for an all-inclusive government.

What Next For Merkel

On their side, the Social Democrats (SPD) had their poorest election results since 1949. After the loss, SPD declared that it would be the opposition and thus, it will not be involved in forming the government. This means that Merkel has little options for building a coalition. Building a coalition would now take some months. In this historic election, six parties will be in the German parliament for the first time.